Last verified: April 2026
El Paso 1915: The First U.S. City to Ban Cannabis
On June 2, 1915, the El Paso City Council passed Ordinance No. 309, banning the sale and possession of marijuana. It was the first cannabis ban in American history, and it was not motivated by public health concerns. It was motivated by racism.
Sheriff Stanley Good had campaigned against "marihuana" — deliberately using the Spanish spelling to associate the plant with Mexican laborers crossing the border. The drug was characterized not by its pharmacological effects but by the people who used it.
The drug is known to create a lust for human blood in those who use it, and some of the most dastardly deeds of recent years have been directly attributable to its use.
El Paso Times, 1915
Cannabis users were characterized in contemporary accounts as "Mexicans, Negroes, prostitutes, pimps, and a criminal class of whites" — language that reveals the true target of the ordinance. This was not drug policy. It was racial control dressed in the language of public safety.
The Medical Community Objected
Local physicians pushed back. Cannabis was a recognized medicine at the time, widely available in pharmacies and prescribed by doctors across the country. One El Paso doctor noted that cannabis was "frequently prescribed, as it is a sedative of value." These medical objections were overruled by the political momentum behind the ban.
The Irony: American Cannabis Flowing Into Mexico
A 1917 USDA report documented a fact that contradicted the entire narrative behind El Paso's ban: most of the cannabis in the El Paso border region was coming from U.S. pharmaceutical companies and flowing into Mexico, not the other direction. The "Mexican menace" story that justified prohibition was, in significant part, a fiction.
Most of the cannabis consumed in the El Paso region originated from American pharmaceutical firms, contradicting the prevailing narrative that Mexican immigrants were introducing the drug to the United States.
USDA Report, 1917
From City to State: The Spread of Prohibition
El Paso Ordinance No. 309
First U.S. city to ban cannabis. Driven by anti-Mexican sentiment along the border. Local doctors' objections overruled.
Texas Statewide Ban
Texas enacts a statewide prohibition on marijuana, one of the earliest state-level bans in the country. Predates federal prohibition by 18 years.
The McMillan Bill
Texas tightens its cannabis laws. A Dallas police captain testifies that "Mexican ganja is as dangerous as opium" — conflating two unrelated substances and two racial stereotypes in a single sentence.
Federal Marihuana Tax Act
The federal government finally acts, nearly two decades after Texas's statewide ban. Harry Anslinger's Federal Bureau of Narcotics uses the same racial narratives that originated in the Texas-Mexico border region. Texas was the template.
Racial Disparities Persist
The racial dynamics that created Texas cannabis prohibition in 1915 are not ancient history. They are measurable in current enforcement data.
According to the ACLU's 2020 report "A Tale of Two Countries," Black Texans are 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Texans, despite roughly equal usage rates across racial groups. This disparity exists across urban and rural counties, across income levels, and regardless of local enforcement priorities.
In Texas, Black people are 2.6 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite comparable usage rates.
ACLU, "A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform" (2020)
In 2018, Texas recorded the highest total number of marijuana possession arrests of any state in the country. These arrests disproportionately affected communities of color, creating criminal records that affect employment, housing, education, and family stability for decades.
The Charnesia Corley Case
The human cost of racially disparate enforcement was illustrated with brutal clarity in 2015. Charnesia Corley, a 21-year-old Black college student, was pulled over in Harris County for allegedly running a stop sign. Deputies claimed to smell marijuana. What followed was an 11-minute public body cavity search conducted at a gas station, while Corley was held face-down in a parking lot.
The amount of marijuana allegedly found: 0.02 ounces — less than half a gram. About two pinches of dried herb.
The charges against Corley were eventually dropped. The officers involved were cleared of wrongdoing. RAMP Texas (Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition) and civil rights organizations demanded accountability, but none came. The case remains a stark example of how marijuana enforcement intersects with race and bodily autonomy in Texas.
Willie Nelson: Texas Icon, Cannabis Outlaw
No discussion of cannabis in Texas is complete without Willie Nelson — born in Abbott, Texas in 1933, and perhaps the most famous cannabis advocate in American history. Nelson first tried marijuana in 1954 and has been open about his use for over seven decades.
Nelson's relationship with Texas law enforcement illustrates the absurdity of prohibition applied to cultural icons:
- 1995, Waco: Arrested for marijuana possession after deputies found cannabis in his car. Nelson was sleeping in the vehicle at the time.
- 2010, Sierra Blanca: A Border Patrol checkpoint on I-10 south of El Paso discovered 6 ounces of marijuana on Nelson's tour bus. The charge was reduced to a fine.
Nelson's guitarist Mickey Raphael captured the Sierra Blanca incident perfectly:
He said he feels great — he lost six ounces.
Mickey Raphael, on Willie Nelson's arrest at Sierra Blanca
Nelson co-founded Willie's Reserve, a cannabis brand launched in 2015 alongside Colorado legalization, and later Willie's Remedy, a CBD-infused beverage line. He became national co-chair of NORML, lending his celebrity to the legalization movement.
At 92, Nelson has stopped smoking due to emphysema but continues to use cannabis through edibles and oils. His seven-decade journey from outlaw to advocate mirrors the broader arc of American cannabis culture — though in Texas, the law has not yet caught up with the culture.
The Unbroken Thread
From El Paso's 1915 ordinance to today's arrest disparities, a thread connects the origins of Texas cannabis prohibition to its current enforcement. The explicit racial language of the early 20th century has been replaced by facially neutral laws, but the outcomes remain racially disproportionate. When a 21-year-old Black college student is subjected to a public body cavity search for half a gram of marijuana, the system is functioning as it was designed — not as a tool of public health, but as a mechanism of social control.
Understanding this history is not an academic exercise. It is essential context for evaluating current Texas cannabis policy and the political resistance to reform.